What to make of Bob Nicholson's comment that Edmonton Oilers in the market for a "top defenceman."

Who will be moved at the trading deadline? Patrick Maroon? Mark Letestu? Mike Cammalleri? Oscar Klefbom? Zack Kassian? Ryan Strome? And what is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl’s long-term future with the team? David Staples and Bruce McCurdy of the Cult of Hockey discuss.

This in from Edmonton Oilers CEO Bob Nicholson, his discussion on Prime Time Sports where he suggests his team is looking to acquire a top defencemen. “We’ve got some assets that we could trade here,” Nicholson said.

“If we could add another top defenceman that would be real good.”

My take

A fascinating and somewhat perplexing comment from Nicholson. I don’t recall him ever being so open about an Edmonton trade target. Perhaps I’m just not recalling such a statement, but I don’t remember him ever saying what the kind of player the Oilers were focused on acquiring.

If I would have guessed I would have thought that a top winger, a third-line centre (enabling Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to move to Connor McDavid’s wing) or even another goalie would be at the top of the shopping list for Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli, not a defenceman.

The Oil have no shortage of d-men on big contracts. This year, Oscar Klefbom and Andrej Sekera have struggled mightily on defence in large part due to injury. Brandon Davidson and Yohann Auvitu have done well in bottom-pairing roles, so much so that Chiarelli should make an effort to bring back both. Darnell Nurse has taken a major step up, holding his own in a Top 4 role, though struggling somewhat when he’s been asked to be the team’s No. 1 d-man. Matt Benning has taken a step back from last year, as has Adam Larsson, who has also been injured. Kris Russell is about the same as he was last year, a defensive stalwart but no attacking dynamo. But if Davidson and Auvitu are brought back — and they definitely should be — that’s a lot of d-men under contract, especially left shot d-men, with Nurse, Klefbom, Sekera, Russell, Auvitu and Davidson filling that bill, though both Russell and Davidson have shown they can play right defence. The Oilers have Larsson, Benning and Gryba on the right side, so it definitely makes sense to move a left shot d-man for a right shot d-man.

It’s long been discussed that the Oilers need a top right-handed d-man to run the power play. Perhaps that is what Nicholson is referencing. As Oilers fan Heather Marginet mentions: “During the Oilers breakfast (talk with season ticket holders) Chiarelli mentioned not having a shooter or a PP QB on the backend was on him. I’m pretty sure that is what Nicholson meant.” That talk faded significantly last year when the Oilers power play took off with Oscar Klefbom as quarterback, but with the power play in the doldrums and Klefbom struggling on defence perhaps that is again the focus of the organization.

It’s hard to imagine that the Oilers would make such a trade at the deadline, as any team in the playoffs or close to the playoffs is going to want to hold on to a top d-man. For example there’s been some scuttlebutt out of Boston that Oilers scouts were in town to watch Torey Krug, but why would Booston trade its top-scoring d-man in a year it is primed to go on a playoff run? In New York, Ryan McDonagh is apparently on the block and there’s often talk of the Oilers being interested in Tyson Barrie.

If the Oilers were to move on an elite d-man, the obvious pieces that could be moved in trade — and, again, I’d expect such a trade to happen in the summer, not at the deadline — would be Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, or Oscar Klefbom, or Jesse Puljujarvi, or Kailer Yamamoto or the team’s first round draft pick, or some combination of those players. Edmonton is loaded on the back-end right now so if Edmonton were to pick up a top d-man, it would almost certainly have to move out Klefbom due to salary cap considerations and No Movement Contracts for Sekera and Russell. Otherwise Edmonton would have two d-men on the third-pairing, likely Russell and Klefbom, making $4 million per. That’s not going to happen given the Oil’s salary cap constraints. Could the Oilers package both Klefbom and RNH and bring in a superior player on defence? That might make a trade worthwhile if it all worked under the cap.

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